THE LUPERCAL.
At the north-west corner of the Palatine Hill, near the church of
S. Anastasia, and at the corner of the Via de’ Cerchi and the Via
de’ Fienili, is a subterranean cave-reservoir, partly natural and partly
built. It is covered by a vault faced with stucco, which has been
richly ornamented, but a considerable part of this stucco has fallen
down, owing to the vibration produced by the carriages in the Via
de’ Cerchi, a modern road which passes over it.
A part of this cave was under, or very near to, one corner of
the Circus Maximus, near the Carceres. In this cave streams of
pure and fine water gush out of the rock in great abundance, and
are collected in a specus, which conveys them to near the church
of S. Giorgio in Velabro and the Janus Quadrifrons, where it falls
into the Cloaca Maxima, and so into the Tiber. This stream is
called Acqua Argentina; the water is celebrated for its purity and
for its medicinal qualities, which in the Middle Ages were considered
as miraculous, as mentioned in the history of this church.
The name is supposed by some to be derived from the pure
and silvery appearance of the water, by others from the circumstance
that it ran through the Silversmiths’ quarter, as is shewn by the in-
scription on the arch dedicated to Septimius Severus by the side of
the church, and near the mouth of this stream.
The present entrance to this cave is down a well at the corner
of the Via de’ Cerchi and Via de’ Fienili, and it is now used as
a mill-head for a modern mill between the source and the mouth ;
from which cause, and from the falling down of masses of the stucco
of the vault which obstruct the course of the water and cannot easily
be removed, it is often knee-deep in water.
The situation of this cave agrees so exactly with the full descrip-
tion of the Lupercal given by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and the
casual notices of it by other classical authors, that it seems almost
impossible to dispute its identity. Without pretending to discuss
the question of the truth of the legend of the wolf and the children,
it is sufficient to say that this is the cave rebuilt by Augustus, and
in which the priests of Pan bathed themselves before rushing into
the circus for the Lupercal games. Dionysius, writing about the
antiquities of Rome during the time of the Arcadians and their
H 2
At the north-west corner of the Palatine Hill, near the church of
S. Anastasia, and at the corner of the Via de’ Cerchi and the Via
de’ Fienili, is a subterranean cave-reservoir, partly natural and partly
built. It is covered by a vault faced with stucco, which has been
richly ornamented, but a considerable part of this stucco has fallen
down, owing to the vibration produced by the carriages in the Via
de’ Cerchi, a modern road which passes over it.
A part of this cave was under, or very near to, one corner of
the Circus Maximus, near the Carceres. In this cave streams of
pure and fine water gush out of the rock in great abundance, and
are collected in a specus, which conveys them to near the church
of S. Giorgio in Velabro and the Janus Quadrifrons, where it falls
into the Cloaca Maxima, and so into the Tiber. This stream is
called Acqua Argentina; the water is celebrated for its purity and
for its medicinal qualities, which in the Middle Ages were considered
as miraculous, as mentioned in the history of this church.
The name is supposed by some to be derived from the pure
and silvery appearance of the water, by others from the circumstance
that it ran through the Silversmiths’ quarter, as is shewn by the in-
scription on the arch dedicated to Septimius Severus by the side of
the church, and near the mouth of this stream.
The present entrance to this cave is down a well at the corner
of the Via de’ Cerchi and Via de’ Fienili, and it is now used as
a mill-head for a modern mill between the source and the mouth ;
from which cause, and from the falling down of masses of the stucco
of the vault which obstruct the course of the water and cannot easily
be removed, it is often knee-deep in water.
The situation of this cave agrees so exactly with the full descrip-
tion of the Lupercal given by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and the
casual notices of it by other classical authors, that it seems almost
impossible to dispute its identity. Without pretending to discuss
the question of the truth of the legend of the wolf and the children,
it is sufficient to say that this is the cave rebuilt by Augustus, and
in which the priests of Pan bathed themselves before rushing into
the circus for the Lupercal games. Dionysius, writing about the
antiquities of Rome during the time of the Arcadians and their
H 2